pigs

The victim gives way to the bully, as usual, but they are both to blame

The Jarrow March
The latest bit of political speak comes from the Tory party. Timed to coincide with their recent conference we get the 'suspicious striver'.. What are they? Well possibly the answer to the Tory party prayer and let Lord Ashcroft explain in his own words.

“Suspicious Strivers”, who make up 15% of the population, have many of the attitudes that Conservatives might think make them natural supporters. They might even be thought of as the natural successors to the C2 voters that Margaret Thatcher won from Labour in the 1980s. They tend to think people expect too much from government, oppose penalising top earners with very high taxes, and value flexible labour markets. But Suspicious Strivers are so called because they are not sure their efforts will bring the rewards they should. They suspect that hard work counts for less than connections, and are sensitive to signals that striving goes unrewarded, or even counts against them, when they miss out on help which, as they see it, they would get if they worked less hard. They are the least likely of any group to identify with a political party, and have the highest UKIP vote – another symptom of their dissatisfaction with mainstream politics.

Is flying safe?
Rod Liddle has an excellent article in the Spectator, its title is - "Would a terrorist really post a warning on Twitter"? Good question, as with all things Liddle the question or proposition he starts off with is simply a tool. It enables Liddle to have a rant, he's probably one of the UK's top ranters and after a slow start he gets onto the case. For the title of this rant refers to a man, Paul Chambers, who threatened to blow up his local airport and Liddle gives the extenuating circumstances which I urge you to read.

There can be no doubt that Chambers was stupid, equally, as Liddle suggests, there can be no doubt that the police over-reacted. The yawning gulf between the police and the public and remember it is the latter that funds the former, is getting wider all the time. It also widens in lock-step with the gap between the politicians and the public, and for mostly the same reasons. The UK police are now more politicised than at any time since Sir Robert Peel. The Association of Chief Police Officers, ACPO, is a highly politicised trade union in the manner of the National Union of Mineworkers of old when under the leadership of Arthur Scargill, only much more successful.